Counting the cost: Gold mining and occupational disease in contemporary South Africa

African Affairs

Volumn 108, Issue 431, 2009, Pages 221-240

  McCulloch, Jock ^a  

^a RMIT UNIVERSITY   (Australia)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

GOLD MINE; HEALTH RISK; MIGRANT WORKER; MINING; MINING INDUSTRY; OCCUPATIONAL EXPOSURE; REGULATORY FRAMEWORK; RISK FACTOR; TWENTIETH CENTURY;

AFRICA; CAPE TOWN; GAUTENG; JOHANNESBURG; SOUTH AFRICA; SOUTHERN AFRICA; SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA; WESTERN CAPE;

EID: 62849088810     PISSN: 00019909     EISSN: 14682621     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1093/afraf/adn085     Document Type: Article

References (78)

1. See Mankayi Mbini and Anglo American Corporation of South Africa Ltd, High Court of South Africa (Witwatersrand Local Division), Case No. 04/ 18272 2, August 2004.
2. Richard Spoor, 'Notes on the case of Mankayi Mbini versus Anglo American' (unpublished paper, 2006).
3. 'Anglo being sued for R20m', The Sunday Independent, 30 September 2007.
4. See Mavis Hermanus, at (12 August 2002).
5. See Martin Creamers, Mining Weekly, 7 May 2004.
6. Spoor, 'Notes on the case of Makaya Mbini'.
7. On the first crisis see Elaine Katz, The White Death: Silicosis on the Witwatersrand gold mines 1886-1910 (Witwatersrand University Press, Johannesburg, 1994)
8. and Isidore Donsky, A History of Silicosis on the Witwatersrand Gold Mines, 1910-1946 (Rand Afrikaans University, PhD thesis, 1993).
9. See Francis Wilson, Labour in the South African Gold Mines 1911-1969 (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1972).
10. Rina King, 'Silicosis in South African gold mines: A study of risk of disease for black mineworkers' (unpublished research paper, Department of Sociology, University of the Witwatersrand, 1985), p. 19.
11. See H. J. Simons, 'Occupational health in the South African mining industry, 1870-1956', in 'Migratory labour, migratory microbes' (unpublished manuscript, circa 1960), p. 27.
12. See Matthew John Smith, 'Working in the Grave': The development of a health and safety system on the Witwatersrand gold mines, 1900-1939 (Rhodes University, MA thesis, 1993), pp. 182-4,
13. and Donsky, A History of Silicosis, pp. 179-201.
14. Donsky, A History of Silicosis, p. 196.
15. See Robert H. Davies, Capital, State and White Labour in South Africa 1900-1960 (Humanities Press, Atlantic Highlands, NJ, 1979).
16. Dr Orenstein, in 'Silicosis: Records of the International Conference held at Johannesburg 13-27th August 1930' (International Labour Organization, London, 1930), p. 32.
17. On the development of the US standards, see G. Markowitz, and D. Rosner, 'The limits of thresholds: Silica and the politics of science', American Journal of Public Health 85 (1995), pp. 253-62.
18. G. E. Barry, in 'Silicosis: Records of the International Conference', p. 84.
19. H. W. Sampson, in ibid., p. 14.
20. Professor Hall, in ibid., p. 78.
21. Marais Malan, The Quest of Health: The South African Institute of Medical Research, 1912-1973 (Lowry Publishers, Johannesburg, 1988), p. 35.
22. Ibid., pp. 30-2.
23. A. Mavrogordato, 'Contributions to the study of miners' phthisis' (typescript, Adler Medical Library, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg), p. 56.
24. An abridged version of the paperwas published under the same title as a monograph by the South African Institute of Medical Research. See South African Institute for Medical Research, occasional publications, Vol. 3, No. 19 (December 1926).
25. Mavrogordato, 'Contributions', pp. 50-1.
26. Ibid., p. 52.
27. See, for example, George A. Turner, 'Report on the prevalence of pulmonary tuberculosis and allied diseases in the kraals of the natives of Portuguese East African territory, south of latitude 22°' (Hayne and Gibson, Johannesburg, 1906) and 'Tuberculosis in South African natives with special reference to the disease amongst the mine labourers of the Witwatersrand' (South African Institute for Medical Research, Johannesburg, 1932).
28. Mavrogordato, 'Contributions', p. 99.
29. Mavrogordato 'Contributions', p. 109.
30. 'Report of the Commission of Enquiry into the functioning of the Silicosis Medical Bureau and the Silicosis Medical Board of Appeal' (Government Printer, Pretoria, 1952), p. 7.
31. Memo from Dr Gerrit Schepers to Jock McCulloch regarding the Beyers Commission, 16 and 17 August, 2008, Great Falls, Virginia, USA.
32. Ibid.
33. Ibid.
34. See Dr G. W. H. Schepers, transcripts of evidence before the Beyers Commission (Johannesburg, 29 January 1952), pp. 492-537.
35. 'Report of the Commission of Enquiry into the fuctioning of the Silicosis Medical Bureau', pp. 7-8.
36. See 'Report of the Departmental Committee of Enquiry into the relationship between silicosis and pulmonary disability and the relationship between pneumoconiosis and tuberculosis' (Government Printer, Pretoria, 1955).
37. See 'Report of the Commission of Inquiry into Safety and Health in the Mining Industry'. (Department of Minerals and Energy Affairs, Pretoria, 1995), pp. 48-50.
38. Ibid., pp. 514-55.
39. T. W. Steen, K. M. Gyi, N. W. White, et al., 'Prevalence of occupational lung diseases among Botswana men formerly employed in the South African mining industry', Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 54 (1997), pp. 19-26.
40. Anna Trapido, An Analysis of the Burden of Occupational Lung Disease in a Random Sample of Former Gold Mineworkers in the Libode District of the Eastern Cape (University of the Witwatersrand, PhD thesis, 2000), p. v.
41. See G. Churchyard et al., 'Silicosis prevalence and exposure response relationship in older black mineworkers on a South African gold mine' (Safety in Mines Research Advisory Committee, SimHealth, 15 May 2003).
42. Jill Murray, 'Development of radiological and autopsy silicosis in a cohort of gold miners followed up into retirement' (paper presented at the Research Forum, National Institute for Occupational Health, Johannesburg, 26 May 2005).
43. See Mavis Hermanus at .
44. On the synergy between HIV/Aids, tuberculosis, and silicosis, see Shula Marks, 'The silent scourge? Silicosis, respiratory disease and gold-mining in South Africa', Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 32, 4 (2006), pp. 571-4.
45. Trapido, An Analysis of the Burden of Occupational Lung Disease, pp. 196-201.
46. Neil White, 'Is the ODMW Act fair? A comparison of the Occupational Diseases in Mines and Works Amendment Act, 1993 and the Compensation of Occupational Injuries and Diseases Act, 1993 with respect to compensation of pneumoconiosis' (unpublished paper, July 2004).
47. White, 'Is the ODMW Act fair?' and Spoor, 'Notes on the case of Mankayi Mbini'.
48. White, 'Is the ODMW Act fair?', p. 18.
49. See David Rosner and Gerald Markowitz, Deadly Dust: Silicosis and the politics of occupational disease in twentieth-century America (Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, 1991);
50. Alan Derickson, Black Lung: Anatomy of a public health disaster (Cornell University Press, Ithaca, NY, 1998);
51. Arthur McIvor and Ronald Johnston, Miners' Lung: A history of dust diseases in British coal mining (Ashgate, London, 2007).
52. See Maria Anne Felix, Environmental Asbestos and Respiratory Disease in South Africa (University of the Witwatersrand, PhD thesis, 1997).
53. Mavrogordato, in 'Silicosis: Records of the International Conference', p. 45.
54. Miners phthisis is the now antiquated term for the combined diseases of silicosis and pulmonary tuberculosis.
55. Katz, The White Death, p. 192.
56. See Transvaal Medical Journal (1 September 1905), pp. 25-6.
57. Memo from Dr Gerrit Schepers to Jock McCulloch, 23 August 2008.
58. Ibid.
59. See Katz, The White Death, 'Appendix: The development of silicosis', pp. 215-20.
60. King, 'Silicosis in South African Gold mines', p. 13.
61. See 'Report of the Commission of Inquiry into Safety and Health', pp. 16-17.
62. H. H. Schroder, 'The properties and effects of dust. Environmental engineering in South African mines' (Report, Mine Ventilation Society of South Africa, 1982),
63. quoted in King, 'Silicosis in South African Gold mines', p. 12.
64. See J. E. Roberts, What Is the Price of 80 KGs: The failure of the detection of, and compensation for, asbestos-related disease: Social exclusion in Sekhukhuneland (University of Natal, MA thesis, December 2000).
65. See Jock McCulloch, 'Beating the odds: The quest for justice by South African asbestos mining communities', The Review of African Political Economy 32, 103 (2005), pp. 63-77.
66. Jock McCulloch, 'Asbestos, lies and the state: Occupational disease and South African science', African Studies 64, 2 (2005), pp. 201-16.
67. 'Anglo being sued for R20m', The Sunday Independent, 30 September 2007.
68. See Duncan Innes, Anglo American and the Rise of Modern South Africa (Monthly Review Press, London, 1984).
69. See Geoffrey Tweedale and Laurie Flynn, 'Piercing the corporate veil: Cape Industries and multinational corporate liability for a toxic hazard, 1950-2005', Enterprise and Society 8 (June 2007), p. 7.
70. Senzeni Zokwana, National Union of Mineworkers, transcript of evidence given before Commission of Inquiry into Safety and Health in the Mining Industry (held at Braamfontein, Johannesburg, 17 August 1994), p. 209.
71. Ibid., p. 205.
72. Ibid., p. 205.
73. White, 'Is the ODMW Act fair?', p. 20.
74. Dr Middleton, in 'Silicosis: Records of the International Conference', p. 30.
75. Dr I. G. Irvine, Dr A. Mavrogordato, and Hans Pirow, 'A review of the history of silicosis on the Witwatersrand goldfields' in 'Silicosis: records of the International Conference', p. 178.
76. See 'Report of the Commission of Inquiry into Safety and Health', p. 41.
77. See McCulloch, 'Asbestos, lies and the state'.
78. See J. Crush et al., 'Undermining labour: The rise of sub-contracting in South African gold mines', Journal of Southern African Studies 27, 1 (2001), pp. 5-31.